Pirate Captains and Black Flags

I really meant to be updating this blog more frequently than I have. Quick updates: Billie VS Season 3 will begin "airing" on March 10th (or thereabouts). I'm still working at the mobile game company, and I've been getting better at UI art/ implementation.

We've been watching Black Sails in lieu of other shows (Sleepy Hollow wont return till next season, I've given up on Agents of Shield, and American Horror Story has finally wrapped up). There was a brilliant moment in episode 3 where Captain Flint gives this look that speaks volumes. Just, one simple look. SO GOOD. I decided I HAD TO DRAW IT.

Step 1: Take a Screengrab of the episode.

Murder. Thats what I'm thinking. MURDER.

Step 2: Start Drawing! (Using bad shadow blocking).

"haha wut" indeed

Step 3: Draw on top!

Yes I do constantly write notes to myself as I draw

Step 4: Keep drawing!

This is what happens when you draw at 11:30 at night

Step 5: Dont stop no matter how wonky the drawing looks!

Its a good bit closer, but still OFF

Step 6: Yeah, that looks too wonky. Start over, the next day. On lined paper. In Pen. Completely from memory. 

I knew I had to draw the picture without the reference

Step 7: Trace during lunch!

(Get called out during lunch)

Things are still not quite right...

Step 8: Tweak like crazy until the drawing looks like you think it should! THEN ADD COLOR.

Definitely murder

Step 9: Be happy with the final result UNTIL you look at the original image. Wait - he had a cut on his nose? And his hair goes round all the way on the top of his head - and *not* flat? UGH, I'll re-draw this tomorrow :P

I do appreciate his eyebrows are more dramatic in my drawing, and his eyes a bit bigger (I like the cartoony style!) but all in all I'm quite happy with the way Captain Flint turned out. 

What does the fox say?

I swear that if everyone isn't sick of that song yet, then I'll eat my flying pig. Thats right. You heard me. Actually, I think Stone Henge is probably my favorite of Ylvis' songs.

Just doodling with color. Sometimes I like to remind myself I'm not that bad of an artist :). 

An itty bitty thumbnail

Though it took me a good while fussing around with color, I think I finally like the near-finished version of FarStar.

I don't know if I've ever admitted this, but sometimes color just doesn't do what I want it to. And I know, the buildings on the bottom of the page totally disappear into the background and it needs to be fixed. Thats why this is the "near-finished" version. I'm beginning to fear how fast my art projects go. They seem to be getting faster and faster, and I cant tell if I'm getting more efficient at my own style, or if I'm just getting lazier and worse at creating poster pieces.

I am currently working on posters for the CDM's game exhibition, which inspired me to do FarStar. Unlike FarStar, I'm not automatically dumping the sketches into Illustrator and vectorizing them. Instead I'm coloring them in photoshop because its quicker, and then getting feedback from the exhibition curators/crew/staff. Maybe I'll get to put the process work online! (But I wouldn't hold my breath.)

Battle Girl

I'm pretty sure anyone over the age of 20 being called "girl" is ever so slightly demeaning. But thats the trend, so who am I to buck it. I kind of like how home-made Battle Girl's costume looks. Like she's wearing old high school P.E. clothing. With a leotard underneath. In fact, BG is wearing a yoga top and pants over thick tights and the top portion of a leotard. Which seems to be more clothing than one would want as a wanna-be superhero. Perhaps its cold in the city BG likes to protect. 

I also made a little Battle Girl Lego figure because, why not? :)

Billie VS NDAs

When I said the other day, that I had little to show, I was mistaken. I have little I *can* show. Now that I'm working contract jobs, most of which with NDAs, I have tons of work and less that I can put online. At least, not until the projects are publicly announced.

Yep, Billie as Rosie the Riveter is being coloured. I threw in Gideon looking miffed and at some point in time will get around to finishing the colouring. When I find time.  

Samantha Torne

I think I should have suggested "Samantha DANGER" but... too late. They've already got the title screen done. :/ .

With less than 30 minutes left, I unfortunately didn't get around to animating the villains/ monsters. It would have taken me about an hour to vectorize the characters, yet alone animate them. :( . Instead I did a short hand cheat and grayscaled our heroine. This way it looks like she's battle depression. In an cliche, not at all accurate way.

The idea of the game was (and still sort of is) the main character, Sam, must battle her inner demons, LITERALLY. (Within herself, no less). (Well... not within herself like her hearts and organs or anything, more metaphorical self.) (It looks like a city.)

Some of the baddies included:

The "Angel" (and the "Demon" never got drawn). She has to fight the ideal of the Madonna/Whore complex. The idea is these baddies are things a girl faces IRL. This could also represent "Purity." 

I know its cliche to use greyscale as depression, but there you have it. It was the easiest to replicate, as its just Sam without color. I just finished compiling these in half an hour, so at least we have something for her to battle. 

The "magazine girl". Aka the perfect version of herself she could never be. Unfortunately for this version, the collision points would change (minorly) but enough to cause heartache for the programers. Plus, I would have to redraw her entire illustrator model. 

The "final boss" monster character: Sam's perception of herself on a bad day. Call it "Bad Day" Baddie. Thats about all I have. Unfortunately I never got around to vectorizing and animating any of these baddies. But it sure was fun to animate. I think I could start calling myself a character designer. 

Billie Morgan

I've been wanting to draw Billie in this pose for a while now. I just transfered the reference picture from my cell phone to my computer yesterday – which was why I spent a good portion of this afternoon drawing and painting this. I think it took about 3 hours in total. I'm not too sure when I started. Sometime after lunch.

I like drawing Billie in confident poses. She's supposed to be a Hero. She possesses all the required traits: stubborn, head strong, opinionated, leaps-before-thinking, is often times in over her head, refuses to back down... She is undoubtedly a fun character to write. Well, she'll be more fun once I get her through this season's emotional turmoil. Just because she can kick physical ass doesn't mean she can kick emotional ass. In fact, like a good hero, she's quite bad at emotions. Like disappointment, failure, heartbreak, loss... Oh Billie. You're going to hate me before we're through the first season. Yet alone the second and third.

Character Sketches

I've burnt out of the original steam I had for the new story idea, but fortunately it wont stop my progress. Its just going to go a bit slower. I ran into some hiccups in terms of story. I dont think the cast of characters is strong enough, but then I realized its because the rest of the cast (sans the main two characters) get so little screen time. Not good. Characterization occurs best when in conflict or conversation with more than one character, after all.

So I'm spending more time on fleshing out the WHOLE cast - and writing more scenes with them in it. I focused so much on the COOL parts of the story (Billie, the main character, and her job) that I neglected the important part - how she relates to her friends, her peers, and her day to day life. Once I get that hammered away I believe the story will have better locomotion. After all, plot only makes sure there's a structure for the story, its the character interaction/ conflict that drives the story.

Sherlock Holmes

I've been watching "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" on Youtube lately. I saw just one too many gifs with Jeremy Brett's Sherlock and I decided enough is enough! I MUST WATCH IT. And I did. ITS FABULOUS. I love Benedict Cumberbatch's turn as Sherlock, but its not Sherlock. I now believe Jeremy Brett is Sherlock. The Great Detective personified.

As an aside, how can a 50 year old look so good? Makeup, right? Makeup and 1980's television resolution.

I think I'd like to ramble on and on about what makes Sherlock Holmes' character so attractive to so many people over so many generations, but thats a LONG ramble. Another time, I suppose. Though I will end on this: Jeremy Brett was Freddy in My Fair Lady! What the what – right?

Cover Design - Process Work

From start to rough color blocking: took me 2 hours. Then I went in and started smoothing out the color and adding details, which took another... oh, 2 hours I'd guess. I stopped to wash my dinner plates, to open a window, and then to surf the web a bit. ... Its rather awful how much the internet sucks my time. That and tv shows. I have a choice to make. Either I can be productive and make stuff, or I can watch the next 6 episodes of Person of Interest (and catch up with the recent season). Its hard! I love PoI! Its addictive. And I'm in for a doozy, as the next 3 episodes are all tied to each other (cliff-hanger style) so I cant just decide to watch one episode and stop. :/

Finished at 10 pm

Elves and Paintings

Been trying out a new painting style. I have to keep experimenting if I want to get better. I will NOT let anything as large as color or painting techniques defeat me! I think its actually kinda fun. Just seeing if throwing random color on the painting still works. Surprisingly, it can. WIP as it were. 

Valentines Day

I dont have strong feelings towards Valentines day. But I doodled this today. Its for you!

Wok wok wok

I've mostly been doing client work, so there's not much I can show, what with NDAs and all. But I did make some time today for painting in photoshop. I got the Master's face! Next: the HAIR. Oh dread. :/ (missing eyebrows, iris, and lip color, of course). The jacket is not quite where I want it either, but I'm geting closer! YAY! 

I did manage to finish Justin's portrait (so he can stop pestering me about when I'll get it done.) AND I've been working on some super secret personal project! If we get the green light I might drop a few more hints about it. If we dont get the green light, I suspect I'll just put the whole thing up online. Cause I dont know when it will get done otherwise. (I know, how cryptic. Its a project. It was going to be a side project, but it looks like it might be a full semester project. A GAME project. So, yeah, cryptic. :) )

Some Fan Art

Its totally true too. I've never seen a popular male actor with such a weak chin before. (Its probably because of his cheekbones. Yeah. Its his cheekbones.) And Benedict Cumberbatch definitely pops his collars and wears high scarfs in his roles because he looks like a giraffe if he doesn't. 

Every time my mother would walk past by my computer and see my background (its totally Sherlock, guys) she'd say "what an ugly man! Why is he on your background?" Every. Time. Its hard to explain that its because he's such a fantastic actor. It really is.

Not-Quite-So-Productive

I was on the Cintiq all day today (like, no joke, from 9 when I got into the project room, till 5 when I left - factoring in the 2 hours off for lunch) and thought I'd been more productive... apparently not.

(I must confess, I did this on sunday...)

Yes! This drawing! I have returned to it because a) I'm a sucker for punishment, and b) I REFUSE TO GIVE UP. Whats different? Well, for starters, I cleaned up the lines. Stuck with a more neutral/ less punchy background color, and colored all of it in flats first! This time, this time I WILL SUCCEED. 

ACTUALLY A PLACEHOLDER IMAGE! MWAHA, MWAHAHA

So, dragons/ lizards. I dunno what it is, but I'm on this strange fantastical/ lizardy creatures bent and ITS FANTASTIC. (and apparently awfully punny.) Anyway: I spent most the morning drawing/ coloring a different drawing (on the same photoshop document) but am not showing it because PLANS. PLANS for children's book/ comic/ game of some sort maybe. And they're ligit plans too. So... yeah. I'm gunna have to be a bit more secretive with it till stuff happens. :( 

Totally unrelated note: did you know there's not "Little bunny foo foo" ipad/ app games? Like, of all the weird nursery rhymes that could so totally be gamified, why not "Little Bunny Foo Foo?" (I was totes singing the song on the weekend because I'm an adult. Riiiiiiight.)

A classmate of mine. Demanded (demanded I tell you! with promises of matting and framing and posting it all over the interwebs!) that I draw a pic of him. I'm not at all done... need to add shadows and stuff. 

And last but not least, a Venutian girl. Venetian? ... No... An alien from Venus. Like a Martian but not from Mars! Right. Pseudo Disney styled cause thats how I roll. I've been reading too much comics, methinks. I just felt like drawing a superhero story...

Aaaaand that was my not-quite-so-productive day. Stay tuned for more in the next week!

Dragons, Doodles, and Color

I guess I forgot to mention its the start of the new semester (yay!) and we've all be assigned Project Groups. I'd love to ramble on and on about our project's here, but this is a sketch blog. Not a project blog. Instead, I'll be rambling sporadically on the school provided blog instead: Patricia Extraordinaire! (which was totes going to be my new screen name/ nick name once I moved to The Big City... but only halfway panned out). 

 So... sketches... I've got a couple still from when I was back in Georgia that I havent uploaded. These (on this post) are new. I've been experimenting with colouring (as I said yesterday ... or was it the day before?) and just all around doodling. I have some cool doodles in my sketchbook too - but these were all drawn in the computer today. Obvs the dragon is a work in progress. The other two women busts are just doodles.

I did some pretty rad (and by pretty rad I mean super duper rushed) concept colour sketches for our Project Client. But, sadly, I cannot upload them because of NDA's. Which is all cool, cause I like being all professional and industry and such. But you dont get to see how kick-butt I am at concepting.

Painting myself it seems

I was just experimenting with painting (after skimming through one of Micah's art magazines over christmas, I saw a "how I paint" that was actually fairly informative). My team members decided it looks like me. (Except it doesn't.) The problem I have is on the photoshop page the colours are less yellow. :/

Darn you color calibration!

Journal, Eh?

I was up late last night. This was due at midnight and I didn't have a cover so I just grabbed the doodle I was working on and slapped it onto of the "cover". I actually really love the way the two colors work. That was not intentional. I was just trying to darken the colors and it didn't work, but I left the darker BEHIND the top and it looks super! 

I might be a bit brain-dead. JUUUUUUST a bit. 

Lotsa Sketches Little Time

I've been sketching NON STOP. I've also been rather busy (nonstop) so I haven't been able to consolidate all the sketches into single files. ANY WHO.

A flying Pig. Its a work in progress (there's another character that needs to be added to the scene - and the feathers need more detail/ sharper shadow) but I like it :). ALSO: check out my new signature! YEAH. 

And then there's this, for the Hawkeye Initiative, it might not be twisty but it sure as hell is broken spined. The best way to tell if the pose is physically possible or not is to flip the image so Batgirl (and Hawkeye) are standing on their tipie-toes. Like, its not physically possible. I know. I tried. So its not seductive, but its also not human. Like, at all. Are superheroes treated in this fashion? I dunno. I dont personally have a large litany of comics to go off of. 

The best part of where I got this pose from: this isn't the worst offender in the issue. There are 2 kick sequences that make NO SENSE and a landing sequence that, if actually performed, would have KILLED Batgirl. And this is in a "Girl Frenzy" issue, done in sort of a "hey girls, look how kick ass our heroines are, please read us !!!" from the late nineties. Except, its totally full of broken body parts and plastic, static poses. 

Value Proposition

UGH. I hate when I forget to change the color settings on Illustrator. It so totally doesn't match up with what gets saved as a JPG. I HATE YOU ILLUSTRATOR. HATE. YOU. The colors are so much more vivid on the file itself. >.>

My Value Prop cover page. I've been working on this since One oclock this afternoon. So... 4 consecutive hours. And I drew the thumbnails for it last night at around One am. haha. WOW. Kismit.

I've been seriously considering (as of last night that is) doing a web-novel version of TSU. The only reason I haven't done the comic is because I cant get the style down. Its a very specific style I have in mind. Crime-Noir. And I cant seem to get what the characters look like. So I think I'll just start writing it and updating it to a web-blog-novel thing instead. With illustrations, of course. What do you think?